Page 13 of Blood Sanctuary, Part Two

“Lord Titus paid dearly that night,” she said. “By refraining from intervening, by abandoning the rebel free lords to the king’s justice, he let members of his own faction die to prove his loyalty to the king once and for all. But Lord Titus won, too. He won you, when he convinced the king an eight-year-old boy should not be punished for his father’s crimes. He promised he would raise you to be loyal, so you would not grow up to cause problems later. But I think you are often the one who teaches Lord Titus’s family about loyalty. You have repaid your life debt to them over and over. Flavian and Genie’s love for you is proof of that.”

“They are generous to me, as you are.”

“It’s not just generosity, Ben.”

“Why?” he demanded.

“No one is ashamed of you but you. Stop prostrating yourself before the gods. Get on your feet and strap on your sword, Knight of Andragathos. You will need all your courage to confront the difficult truth I am about to tell you.”

He looked startled, and he straightened beside her. Good. She had his attention.

“I was at the siege,” she reminded him. “I witnessed what happened.”

“A grievous experience for a girl. I regret my father subjected you to that.”

“Myfather subjected me to it.”

At the mention of the king, Benedict tensed.

“He can’t hear us,” Cassia said. “And even in Tenebra, whenever you think it, he cannot hear your thoughts.”

Benedict recoiled. “I would never entertain thoughts against the king. I know better.”

“So do I. How well both of us have been taught to know better, even as we quietly bear the truth. There are too few truth bearers, Ben. We cannot afford to let the torch we carry in silence snuff out.”

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

“My father is a tyrant who has made all of us suffer. He is no better than your father.”

Benedict did not appear shocked. He did not glance nervously around to see who was in earshot or jump to his feet and refuse to listen to her treason. He solemnly put his hand over hers with his amulet hanging between them. “Let us speak of it no more, Your Ladyship. For your sake.”

“I appreciate your concern. But I do not need you to protect me. I need you to defend the truth.”

“I’ll lay down my life, but not yours.”

“My life is of no use to anyone laid down, nor is yours. We have to keep ourselves and the truth alive. Will you hear me out?”

He looked stricken now. “Such matters are better left in the grave. But I already carry it with you. It would be cowardly of me to shy from it now.”

“Thank you. I knew I could rely on your courage. I am going to tell you something only I know—I and Lord Hadrian.”

Benedict sat up straighter. “We cannot leave truth at the mercy of Lord Hadrian. One of Segetia’s own ought to champion her. Tell me what’s weighing on your heart, Your Ladyship.”

“I have uttered these secrets to no other man but you in all these years.” Only to a Hesperine. “The king’s cruelty on that night rivaled the free lords’.”

“He had to make an example out of Castra Roborra.” Benedict recited the teachings that had been graven into them their whole lives. “The lords who set themselves up as sovereigns—my father included—behaved without a shred of honor. Even after he met their ransom demands, they still struck down the princess.”

“He didn’t meet the ransom demands, Ben. He lied. The king refused all their terms and let them carry out their threats upon Solia without lifting a finger to stop them.”

He went silent. His face went blank. She understood. It took time for truth to shift beneath one’s feet.

She pressed on, “When the rebel lords sent the hostages over the walls, my father didn’t collect the bodies. He left them on the field. He abandoned my sister.”

“But—” He shook his head. “The funerary rites at Solorum. I was there for those. The crypt in the temple—I visit it myself every year, you know I do.”

“They didn’t carry her in a covered bier because her body was damaged. There was no body to carry. Her tomb has been empty all along.”

“By all Fourteen Scions.” He went a shade paler than the moonlight, his face twisting into a sickened expression. “That was her true fate? Our future queen never even received a blessed burial?”

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